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Asus is first out the door with a price tag for systems based on Intel’s Bay Trail and it looks as though the company aims to correct the catastrophic pricing decisions that helped doom both Surface and Clover Trail. According to company representatives, the Asus Transformer Book T100 convertible will ship in two flavors — a 32GB version for $350 and a 64GB version for $400. The new system uses Intel’s Z3740 Bay Trail processor. That version of the chip is limited to 1.8GHz rather than the 2.4GHz that the company has been showing at IDF, but performance will still be 2-3x better than Clover Trail, clock for clock.

The display is a 10.1-inch IPS model with a 1366×768 resolution. While that’s not as nice as Apple’s Retina Displays, it’s still 155 PPI — significantly higher than most monitors and more than acceptable on a device in this price category. The tablet has just 2GB of RAM, but that should prove more than sufficient for the form factor. Part of what’s significant about the T100 is that the $350/$400 price tag includes the dock rather than breaking it out as a $100 – $150 attachable keyboard with incredibly dubious value.

More than twice the performance at nearly half the price

Assuming other manufacturers follow Asus’ lead, we’ll finally see x86 tablets at the price points they should’ve matched twelve months ago. Microsoft’s decision to launch Surface at $500, combined with an attempt to extract far too much value from the x86 version of Windows 8, left both Windows RT and Clover Trail marooned at ridiculous price points. Surface was a $500 tablet with half the storage capacity you paid for, terrible software, and no store curation. Clover Trail devices like the Samsung Ativ started at $600, ran up to $750 with the dock, and offered miserably slow x86 performance. Ivy and Sandy Bridge-equipped notebooks with far better hardware were available for significantly less money. Toss in a great deal of unhappiness over Windows 8 design decisions and significant consumer confusion over the difference between Windows RT and standard Windows 8, and the device ecosystem sold precisely as poorly as it deserved.

Now, it’s a different story. At $400, the T100 is just over half the price of the Samsung Ativ + dock. It’s cheaper than the iPad or other 10.1-inch tablets while still including a keyboard. The 1.8GHz Bay Trail CPU is going to compete well with ARM chips, though we’re not making exact predictions until we see actual shipping hardware.

Will it be enough to ignite the Windows 8 tablet market? Probably not — at least, not all at once. Microsoft squandered every bit of consumer interest and goodwill it had built around its tablet operating system; rebuilding it is a long-term endeavor. But what this move does do is put lightweight systems (2.4 lbs for dock + tablet) into the hands of consumers for not much money, with significantly higher performance than you could buy in a W8 tablet 12 months ago.

The IPad can’t even come close to competing with W8 convertible tablets. Apple knows they can only keep the Windows Hate campaign going so long. As people are exposed more and more to W8 through PCs they will begin flocking to W8 for mobile also.

chojin999

You Microsoft employees are beyond silly.

meddle0ne

So that makes you an Apple or Samsung employee.

ScepticKev

Plugging a keyboard and mouse into a tablet is NOT a game changer. An OS that doesn’t require constant reboots, isn’t slow at doing even menial tasks like “open”, isn’t piss easy to hack or infect, doesn’t take up 16 gig of valuable SSD for just the OS, doesn’t run out of battery after an hour of being un-plugged, doesn’t leak memory, doesn’t require regular rebuilding and can be used by a 3yr old, now that IS a game changer.

Cold as ice

I hated windows 8, i bashed it, love 7, i am a gamer i had an Iphone loved it.

I had some money troubles so i got a prepaid phone from t-moble, they Nokia 521 ( windows 8 )

I cant believe how awesome it is.

PeteMe

Um, Nokia 521 runs on ARM chips, and the OS is Windows Phone 8 so they aren’t exactly a like, but keeping an open mind is good.

Ray C

What exactly is the benefit of keeping your iPad outside of keeping your apps? What exactly is so special about the iPad UI? It’s basically just the Mac desktop. I have an iPad. There is really nothing special about it compared to any other tablet on the market. With the same apps and a keyboard accessory, I’d trade this iPad in a minute and never think twice about it.

FrankScotsman .

I don’t own either the iPad or Surface, but I have tried both. And if I was going to buy one it would have to be the iPad. Without any doubt. I’d willingly pay double for the iPad, the user experience with the iPad is just that much better.

Techutante

Walled gardens are very pretty. But ultimately, you’re still trapped.

tgrech

And you get SOOOOOOO much more freedom with Windows RT.
Purely due to the lack of apps, I’d say even Apples heavily locked down DRM-dosed OS has more freedom than Windows RT ever did(I don’t think we can still use present tense with WART).

Techutante

Windows RT is merely the me-too that windows launched sometime YEARS after Apple set the model. Not to mention, it’s pretty well DOA. Because PC people don’t go in for this whole walled garden thing quite so much.

Tsais

Yes, it was a despicable attempt to copy Apple’s walled garden and tollbooth hell.

Only when Microcruft tries this, it turns into a fenced ghetto instead of a walled garden.

I won’t be caught in either. Fighting the iPhone to do things the way I want, rather than the way Crapple wants was way too much effort. Until there are decent Ubuntu phones, I’m stuck on Android for the moment, just cause that annoys me less than the others.

Techutante

I don’t actually even own a smartphone. (Well it’s a palm from 6 years ago, so it’s sorta smart, but not in the same way) I carry a paperback book in my coat for my downtime away from home, cause I get enough computer usage there as it is.

ScepticKev

WOW – your really qualified to comment on a site named “Extreme Tech”. Did you get really lost on your way to the “Paperback of the week” site?

Techutante

I never saw the need when I have a full computer and a tablet that does all the things a smart phone might do, but bigger, better, and longer. You’re really qualified to judge people you don’t know though eh? Did you stray here from Fox News?

ScepticKev

The whole RT thing came about when MS realised that parents were giving iPads to 3yr olds, and that giving a windows machine to a 3yr old was device suicide, as it would take the 3yr old precisely 3 minutes to trash the device by downloading a virus onto it.

Ian Wardell

Forget rt win 8 pro… see Lenovo tabs

russellohh

Agreed. My Lenovo with 8.1 runs all my .exes, many videogames from 2012 and 2013 (games like Portal 2, Starcraft 2, etc, not indie games), and cost $299. I see no reason to spend an extra $50 to get Windows RT. Full VPN and Cisco AnyConnect, Lync uses, etc. The Dell Venue 8″ is also a good one.

Tsais

anyone who buys Windows RT is either totally new to computers or brain dead. I hate Microsoft just for attempting a ploy like this, closed platform, trying to copy Apple – disgusting.

But this isn’t RT.. you get full Windows on this machine with decent performance for ALL your great software. And since its not a Microsoft built device, you can also install Linux or Hackintosh if you like.

Neither Android nor iOS can come close to running software that’s anywhere near that level of functionality and productivity.

I will never ever buy a windphone or an undead RT tablet from Microcruft. But An Asus computer that allows me to run Windows 7, Windows 8, and dual boot any flavor of Linux, is exactly what I was waiting for.

ScepticKev

You’ll be glad of that walled garden when the zombie apocalypse comes!
Some may say it already has!

Techutante

Gawd, we’re awash in them aren’t we? Hopefully we’ll make it to the a new videogame/movie antagonist genre soon. lol, Hi from 2 years ago on that comment though.

patstar5

I own an iPad 2, surface rt, and an android tablet. Ultimately I use the iPad more than all of them because of the app selection. But with a. Full windows tablet I will have all the desktop apps for windows available and no performance issues unlike my surface. Probably going to get an asus t100, I can put iTunes on it and that is the biggest dealbreaker is not having iTunes. Reason I don’t switch to android or windows phone but windows tablets I can

ScepticKev

Yeh, what has the iPad ever done for us eh?
Apart from the long battery life of course.
Oh and the fact in never needs rebooting.
Oh and it doesn’t take for ever to open an app.
Or doesn’t suffer sudden mysterious slow downs.
Or require rebuilding on a regular basis.
Or takes up so much space a 16 gig device has no space left for apps!
Or slowly eats memory because it’s garbage collection is crap
Or has an interface so complex you need a computing degree
Or catches viruses on a daily basis?
So apart from the long battery life, never needing reboots, not taking for ever to open an app, not suffering slow downs, not requiring rebuilding on a regular basis, not taking up gigs of memory, not having crap garbage collection, not having an interface so complex you need a computing degree or catching viruses on a daily basis.

What has the iPad EVER done for us?

Purple-Stater

As much as I loathe the concept of W8 on a desktop, the lowered pricepoint of this finally has me intrigued. With the dock it’s an extremely lightweight W8 laptop, giving me software compatibility of old programs, and enough space to install some old Windows games.

Your second paragraph is half right, only a fool would replace a device that is already doing the work they need. The type of old/new product is meaningless and your version merely serves to be a pointless product slam.

Tsais

W8 and W8.1 is easily fixed by taking less than 5 minutes to install a free little software called “classic shell”. Voila, you have a more stable Windows 7 with the newest version of DirectX.

Its true, Windows 8 does have some bugs that Windows 7 didn’t have, but its more stable, can reach 6 months up times in heavy daily use. I could not keep Windows 7 up for much more than a week and it would slowly start to go south.

I haven’t seen the garish tiles in a year, thanks to classic shell.

On the T100, I might actually use the tiles, but I’ll still install classic shell, so I can use a proper menu when I want to.

rondriggs10k

Another new series of tablets to launch this week are powered by Intel’s performance Atom Z2580 Clover Trail processor, which offers Hyper-Threading technology…

Ramos Electronics is one of the better-known China based Android tablet manufacturers and has introduced the I-Series with 8″, 9″ and 10″ models… which offer very competitive pricing and solid features, including high resolution displays (starting at about $200).

Intel’s recently released processor with Hyper-Threading technology runs four threads simultaneously and performance wise scores extremely well compared to other mainstream quad-core tablets.

One of the most impressive of the I-Series is the i9 model 8.9-inch model which features a 1900×1200 display (Samsung brand screen) and offers benchmark ratings with some of the highest scores for a mid-range tablet.

More-info-at on the Ramos I-Series at–Tab l e t S p r i nt–

Tsais

a “performance Clover Trail” part?

“Performance” and “Clover Trail” cannot be in the same sentence without the sentence imploding and leaving a large hole with burned edges!

What a load of bollox. The iPad is (or should I say was as it’s OS really is getting a bit outdated) great but there is no way you’d use it in an office environment. An Ipad is fun for some browsing om the couch and an occasional mail, but it does not even come close to replacing a full blown pc. I just installed windows 8 on 5 PC’s here and have to say I’m impressed by how fast it is and how smooth it picked up everything (from our rollermouses to old printers to usb soundcards – it all worked instantly.

I’m looking forward to the 8.1 upgrade.

Tsais

I agree with you – so long as you re-instated the start button with 3rd party software, there are few complaints with Windows 8.

W8 Explorer is annoying though, it moves the file tree up or down without being told to by scroll bar or other means: For example, if you click the little + to expand a drive or folder, you can be sure that Explorer will shortly after pop you to the top of the tree, even though you had it just where you wanted it when expanding the node you wanted.

A lot of software also has issues unless you employ workarounds.

Then there’s the fact that you need more 3rd party software to get your desktop gadgets to work, for which there is no functional equivalent in W8. Microsoft’s insolence in removing popular features from one version to the next is well known.

meddle0ne

Wow, I had no idea these prices would be so low. I was planning on buying a cheap first gen atom tablet, thinking the prices would drop with the coming of new hardware. At this price I will definitely go with the new models. I love my wife’s ASUS RT tablet so if they can deliver something just as good that can run desktop applications I’m definitely in. I hope we see the arm variants drop in price drastically also. I really want to get my kids RT tablets. They’re just too expensive at this point.

Ray C

ASUS can blame Microsoft all they want, but ASUS didn’t market their tablets properly and they cost way to much. They have a Windows 8 tablet for under $350. Why couldn’t their RT tablets a year ago or the new one they decided not to make be even cheaper than that?

meddle0ne

I agree, and they should have pumped out several different models with their own strengths and weaknesses. I would go to Best Buy and there would be a handful of convertibles and 50 different models of regular laptops. These convertibles are really the gem in MS’s duel role OS. Nobody else can do that yet.

FrankScotsman .

since there is no market for ‘these convertibles’ I can understand why no one else is doing it

meddle0ne

No market for laptops that are also tablets? You are kidding yourself.

johnbales

Exactly. A well built/thoughtfully designed convertible at a good price point would provide the benefits of both a tablet AND a notebook in one unit. What would there NOT be a market for these in place of having to purchase separate notebooks and tablets.

Frank Lindsey

If there is a market for the things, then why are warehouses full of them? Who’s kidding himself.
You can insist there’s a market all you want but people are not buying them, it’s a fact.

earthzero

So… what you’re saying is that, once people learn about these new devices and see the performance at these killer prices, that they will still go for the iOS “ecosystem” and pay $150 more. You know, because it would offer them the worlds most powerful and popular actual productivity software for FREE, connectivity without having to spend even more money on “adapters,” compatibility with existing peripherals and millions of existing applications and–oh, wait…

I think that you are the one who is kidding himself…

earthzero

This is a flawed argument. There is DEFINITELY a market for convertible tablets. The pricing and performance is what has been off.

Many people have been waiting for just such devices with this sort of performance and battery life, at the right price point, to jump in. I can’t wait to see what else is coming down the road this fall.

FrankScotsman .

Not flawed at all. It’s all past tense not future tense. They have failed, it’s not a question of “will they succeed” they’ve been on the market for almost a year and have failed.
You say there is a market, but the surface tablets ARE NOT BEING BOUGHT! What don’t you get???

Jamie MacDonald

So you’re posted three comments here which are basically you fanboying the iPad…please stop, for your own dignity.

PWC

More realistic pricing is a good start. Microsoft has a huge hurdle to overcome with the bad taste they left in everyone’s mouth with the first go’round. I for one will look at them and play with them, not sure I will buy one just yet, but who knows.

Ray C

Consumers are fickle. They love or hate you today. The minute their wallet starts talking to them, things change. Windows 8 use is starting to pick up. A new round of tablets at a low price is just what the doctor ordered.

meddle0ne

A lot of people were holding off for the new processors that were coming out.

Tig3RStyluS

Definitely agree, I have Surface RT and really like it.. the only reason i didnt buy pro was due to its comparitive bulkiness and shorter battery life. At the time i was willing to trade no x86 apps just to have a good device to read/consume and was waiting for new processors. Now im torn between going for one of these devices or getting second gen Surface RT which despite what these articles say about RT, mine has been excellent in my usage/needs. PS. i dont need 500 different fart apps in the store, i have all the apps i need except Sky TV but im close to cancelling that subscription anyway.

FrankScotsman .

” Windows 8 use is starting to pick up” yeah, someone bought a surface last week…that doubled the sales of the Surface tablets

Techutante

I own a surface. It’s not really a bad device. Just not really a laptop, and that’s what I wanted out of it. A convertible that can actually play a game or two that wasn’t designed for a 486 is what I want. I don’t care 2 shits about the UI though. It works, who cares? Boo hoo they changed the graphic representation of the intro screen to the stuff I do.

meddle0ne

Yeah, they should have sold them for dirt cheap to create buy in. One things take off work on premium devices for a premium price. You have to create customer buy in first.

Ken B

32Gb SSD shouldn’t be much of a problem in a tablet. A typical Windows installation contains nearly 2gb of drivers for all kinds of hardware, something that shouldn’t be needed in a Windows Tablet. That alone saves 6% of your precious 32Gb space.
No hibernation/swap and you have a core installation of maybe 7Gb. I reduced an installation below 4Gb without compromising security and stability, but at that size you lose the ability to run many updates. Still, it’s an option and it would leave you plenty of space on your limited tablet for other things.

meddle0ne

Micro SD cards increase storage space to a reasonable amount for a laptop. They also come with online storage through skydrive. With the USB 3 you can hook up a 2 TB hard drive for large storage or just use your desktop. Just like with a smart phone, using these devices require some planning of what you want always with the mobile device, and the rest gets stored in the many other options.

Ken B

That’s true, and each method have it’s pros and cons. Like a 2TB hard drive, it’s going to be heavy to carry around when you opted for a lightweight tablet in the first place.
Same with online storage, then you need either 3G/4G or more likely WI-FI, and it might not always be an option.
Personally in this case, I would just bring a small pack of SD-Cards with portable apps, it will be like the old days when you insert a cartridge to use a software, only that the cartridges now are tiny ;)
And like you said, it does requires a bit of planning, can’t just fill up tablet with all kinds of stuff that you might or might not need sometime in the future.
I’m opting for an 8Gb tablet myself. I managed to ramboot Windows straight up to RAM, leaving 4Gb for software. It can’t get any faster than that.

meddle0ne

What do you mean by “ramboot?” I’m not familiar with that, and couldn’t find anything on the internet. You would still need to have the data permanently stored on a hard drive.

Joel Hruska

He appears to be referring to a RAM drive. But yes, you have to load the data off a drive to start with.

meddle0ne

I did some reading on a RAM drive. That’s not something I’ve ever heard of, or thought up, though it’s simple enough of a concept. Neat. It actually kinda reminds me of the ramjet concept. It can’t start on it’s own but once you get it going it will continue to speed up.

Tig3RStyluS

ive got 64gb Surface RT and bought the Micro SD card and have 2tb Mypassport. Im not even close to running out of the 64gb and ive got a ton of stuff installed. As you say, i keep everything in skydrive except my music which is on the USB drive when i go on a business trip. To date, i havent used the SD card except to test to know its there and working.

Joel Hruska

“Im not even close to running out of the 64gb”

A 64GB tablet arrives with about 32GB of storage. That’s not enough space for the applications I work with on a daily basis + any kind of multimedia. Obviously different people have different needs.

Thus, your 32GB conventional x86 tablet arrives with between 5-8GB of useful space. And while yes, you can try to slim back down from there, that’s what Asus drop-ships to you.

It sucked last year. It sucks this year. It’s not my job as customer to make ridiculous changes to a product that’s blatantly misadvertised, whether I can add storage or not. No one buys a device and thinks: “Hrm, 32GB. That means I get 20% of my actual storage!”

pelov lov

That’s the problem. Ultimately, MS and its OEMs have to do more and work harder with respect to hardware, price, and software.

As much as people claim they want Win8 tablets, they must also realize that Win8 and its entire ecosystem isn’t meant for tablets. WinRT/Metro is. Win8 is porky and bloated, but on a desktop/laptop that’s a good thing. You want your OS to support a myriad of peripherals and devices but that also causes a very bloated tablet OS. On the software side people want productivity software on a tablet, but real productivity software isn’t ever going to gel well with a tiny screen, never mind a touch interface and a weak processor.

In order to get people from Android/iOS to switch to MS’s mobile platform, MS has to offer an extremely compelling proposition for the user to make that transition. MS already has to use faster/more expensive hardware and more storage space just to compare evenly, but they’re also required to make it even cheaper and offer more storage (or other incentives that will cost MS/OEMs money) for users who have already entrenched themselves in Android and iOS. It’s not just about matching Android/iOS devices, but about exceeding them on the software and hardware side and at a cheaper price tag.

I’m not sure what MS is charging for WinRT now, but last year’s price for the OEM license of RT+Office (they came bundled) was ~$80-$90. With the tablet space being this competitive and with so many quality choices out there at dirt cheap prices, MS seriously needs to rethink their licensing model. Even at $400 these tablet hybrids will be a hard sell, particularly with lousy 1366×768 displays.

earlfrumkin

Why would anyone knowingly buy and use an operating system that has intentionally inserted back doors for government hackers?

Techutante

What else are you going to use man? They backdoor’d everything. If you write your own Linux they will just tap your phone.

Jamie MacDonald

Because everything is accessible to the government.

Neutrino .

Would love to see Ubuntu Tablet running on that.

Would then like to see a head to head of the Win8/Ubuntu versions comparing processing performance, battery life and remaining drive space.

Neutrino .

Would love to see Ubuntu Tablet running on that.

Would then like to see a head to head of the Win8/Ubuntu versions comparing processing performance, battery life and remaining drive space.

James Tolson

i tried Windows 8.2, however after severe Disappointment i decided to Format my C: drive and go back to Windows XP,

When i tried Format c: s i realized Microsoft had changed Format to Windows live Format which allows me to Format 1 drive up to 100gb for free, trying to format my drive redirected me to the App store where i can pay to upgrade to Windows Format Pro..

Frustrated i decided just to shutdown my pc, and use Xp install process to Format my drive, Unfortunately Windows live shutdown only allows me to put into sleep mode and i would have to upgrade and pay for windows Shutdown Pro 2.0 (with bios access) to do that..

in the end i just binned the hard disk, out of spite. . .

Basil Nolan

Did you try writing the disk to zeros with manufacturer’s utility?

Guest

if true (it’s sounds so ridiculous it could well be satire) that’s horrific!

Guest

if true (it’s sounds so ridiculous it could well be satire) that’s horrific!

Lee RavenGod Ingram

Did you try installing Windows Cashcow and running the ‘milk’ command until all reserves were depleted?

Jim lock

Installing Windows 8.3 will fix the issue. Another alternative is to take the hard drive to empire state building and drop it for repair at 42nd floor.

tgrech

Possibility of Microsoft paying companies so they can sell at a loss/Not charging for Windows to get the ecosystem ball rolling?
It’s hard to see how they can sell the tablet without making a loss while still paying for Windows tax, and selling the products for a loss now would probably be a very smart move for the long term. Although I find it hard that a company as big as MS are playing the long game, normally you only find this with private(No quarterly sales figures to care about) or small companies.

If MS really want Windows tablets to catch on, they need to let OEMs re-master or modify their software. They can’t keep launching tablets with a 20GB of OS, most of which is probably useless excess fat for hardware that’ll never be used on that device.

Most people have not had Android/iOS tablets for more than 2 years, so the habits are still quite easy to remold.

Plus, the app advantage for both of the systems is thus far shallow in terms of productivity and x86 legacy is nothing to joke around with. There’s an enormous amount of high-quality windows-based freeware software out there that many use that will kick ass on tablets which just a few minor tweaks. The basic ground is already built. You dont get tons of ads when using most freeware, open-source Windows software like Audacity for example.

What does concern me is the low screen resolution. If they can get broadwell for tablets out in the next spring or at the latest before school/work begins in 2014 then we’ll see further reductions in batterylife and 2-3x increases in GPU performance.

High-quality, low priced mass market microsoft tablets are going to seriously test the fledging feelings people have towards Android and iOS, especially since Windows is an open system that can play just about anything like Android and has 20 years of legacy apps that it can muster compared to 3 years of actual Android legacy (pre-2010 Android was a joke).
iOS will be harder because of the Apple fanbase is smaller but more hardcore. Plus iOS is safer than either of Android or Windows, less viruses, malware etc.

Mike C

the one thing I hate about ARM tablets is web browsers, why is everything about apps, I would much prefer using a browser in replace of these apps especially for things like you tube, iplayer, facebook even plex web client is good enough. I think Microsoft is on the right track with IE metro it just needs to support more sites. We have the power of the web been gimped by crap web browsers.

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